Cutting Tools

The broad category of “cutting tools” includes all of the consumable tooling involved in milling, drilling, turning and other lathe and machining center operations. Drills, end mills, taps, reamers and inserts are all included here. Consumable tooling used on certain other types of machine tools is included here as well. Also found here are toolholders and closely related accessories such as angle heads.

Milling Tools

Milling produces a flat or contoured surface on a workpiece with a rotating tool. The work can be done on a machining center or milling machine, and can also be done on a turning center that has rotary or “live tool” capabilities. The tools for milling include both solid tools and “indexable” tools—the latter consisting of a tool body that uses replaceable cutting inserts. Carbide is the most likely material for milling tools, though other options include high speed steel as well as, ceramic, cermet and diamond tools for certain more demanding applications. The end mill can be flat-bottomed for flat surfaces, or ball-nosed for milling up contoured shapes. Another common milling tool variety is the “face mill,” a generally larger-diameter tool designed for efficiently milling a wide, flat surface in an economical number of passes.

Robots & Automation

Machine-tending robots are often key components used to enable unattended or lights-out machining operations, adding capacity by taking advantage of time that’s currently unused, like nights and weekends. In many cases, robot integration enables shopfloor employees that were previously loading and unloading parts from machines to perform duties of greater value. Plus, today’s robots are faster and more intelligent than in years past and are also becoming increasingly viable for small-batch/high-mix production. In addition, collaborative robots, or “cobots,” use sensor technology that enables them function safely alongside humans in a shared work environment. That means no more isolating fencing is needed to separate worker and robot.

Turning Tools

Turning involves a fixed and non-rotating cutter, because in turning, the workpiece spins instead of the tool. Turning tools typically consist of a replaceable insert in a turning tool body. The insert can be distinctive in a number of ways, including shape, material, coating and geometry. The shape can be round to maximize edge strength, diamond-shaped to allow a sharp point to cut fine features, square, or even octagonal to increase the number of separate edges that can be applied as one edge after another wears out. The material is typically carbide, though ceramic, cermet or diamond inserts can be applied to more demanding applications. A variety of protective coatings also help these insert materials cut faster and last longer.

Toolholders

The Toolholder is the essential connection between the machining center and the cutting tool. The toolholder fits into and is secured by the machining center’s spindle, and in turn secures the cutting tool such as a drill or end mill by clamping onto its shank. The taper of the toolholder matches the toolholder interface of the particular spindle. Toolholder tapers are often conical, including CAT and BT taper specifications. A different kind of taper, HSK, is not tapered at all, but instead includes a variety of flanges for securely locking the toolholder in place. Toolholders use different mechanisms for clamping the tool including set screw, collet, hydraulic compression and shrink-fit.

Workholding

Workholding refers to any device that is used to a secure a workpiece against the forces of machining. The most basic workholding device is a simple clamp, but workholding can also involve complex fixtures that are custom-built for particular parts. Other common workholding devices include vises and chucks, as well as indexers or rotary tables that are able to change the part’s position while it is held, so the machine can reach various features. In most machining applications, workholding also locates the part. On a machining center, for example, a vise or fixture may also provide the precise position and orientation where the machining program expects to find the workpiece.